


as ordinary things often do

by couldaughter



Series: creatures that i briefly move along (teacher!jon au) [6]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Curtain Fic, Fluff, Gen, M/M, POV Outsider, Teacher Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, The Mortifying Ordeal Of Being Spotted In The Farmfoods Ice Cream Aisle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25673965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/couldaughter/pseuds/couldaughter
Summary: “It was nice to run into you,” said Mr Sims. He sounded like he meant it. “I’ll admit, I do miss reading your stories, Anna. They were all very… visceral.”Martin snorted. He was just how Anna had imagined, somehow. He was a little bit taller than her dad, and he wore round-framed glasses that looked sort of cool, even though they were kind of old-fashioned. She thought he probably gave good hugs, which was good, because Mr Sims always looked a bit like he needed one.“Thanks Mr Sims,” said Anna, preening a little. “Mrs Grant said I have a very active imagination.”
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: creatures that i briefly move along (teacher!jon au) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815988
Comments: 53
Kudos: 686





	as ordinary things often do

**Author's Note:**

> content notes: continual discussion of food! other than that i think it's all good

Anna did _not_ like shopping.

It was boring and took ages and she never got to pick anything, just trail around after mum and dad while they debated which kind of chips to buy for tea. Anna wanted curly fries and they _never_ got curly fries.

They went after school on a Friday most weeks. It was cool getting picked up in dad’s car instead of walking home on her own, but that was where the cool part ended. That particular Friday she spent the whole drive watching raindrops make their way down the car window and chewing her nails.

Mum said that was a bad habit.

Farmfoods was always busy on a Friday, but it was empty enough that mum let her take the trolley in and start going down the list. This was a job mum clearly thought was very exciting.

Anna didn’t agree, but she didn’t like making her mum feel bad, so she just smiled a bit and went in.

The best thing about getting to go on ahead was trolley-skating, pushing the trolley hard down the aisle and then climbing up on the crossbar for a bit. Mum didn’t like Anna doing it because it was “dangerous” and “really, Anna, do you _want_ to get buried in baked bean tins?”.

Halfway down the aisle mum caught up. “Great start, love,” she said, glancing at the small pile Anna had put together. “Dad’s just fussing over the wing mirrors, why don’t you go on ahead to the ice cream and I’ll get all the veggies sorted.”

Ice cream wasn’t on the shopping list. Anna narrowed her eyes up at mum, who winked.

The ice cream was all the way on the other side of the shop, next to the frozen pizza and the crisps. Anna hopped over, taking care not to step on any cracks in the lino, and came to a halt by the cabinet with all the own brand cornettos.

A familiar figure stood a little further down the aisle, looking very intently at a box of freezer pops.

“Mr Sims!” Anna shouted, waving an arm above her head. This shopping trip was _way_ better than normal.

With a slight jump, Mr Sims turned towards her and, after a moment, smiled. “Oh, hello, Anna,” he said. Anna hopped over, switching legs this time, and leaned her elbow over a case of Weight Watchers desserts.

“What’re you doing here?” Anna asked. It had been _ages_ since Mr Sims left their school, and even though she understood that teachers were people, it was still really weird to see him outside of the school grounds.

He looked sort of weird too. Apparently when he wasn’t wearing teacher clothes — he’d always been in a nice shirt and trousers at school, and he only took his blazer off for PE — he liked wearing the same kind of things Anna’s dad did, nice comfy clothes with holes in.

His t-shirt had a cute little cartoon ghost on it, and he was wearing actual _trainers_ and trackie bottoms. She’d never noticed before that the little worm scars on his face went down the side of his neck as well, disappearing beneath the neckline of his shirt.

“Well, Anna,” said Mr Sims, with the little smile that meant he was about to tell a joke. “I thought I’d come and find out what humans eat. I hear vegetables are very controversial.”

Anna giggled. His jokes were never that funny, really, but she liked imagining him as an alien, like the ones from Toy Story or something. 

“What’s your new class like?” she asked. “Are they all _babies_?”

“If you count Reception as babies, then I suppose so,” said Mr Sims. “I’m not sure how good I’d be with actual babies.”

“They probably don’t know anything about the Romans,” said Anna knowledgeably. Her baby cousin didn’t even know who Boudicca was when she asked him at Christmas.

“I think you’re right about that,” said Mr Sims. He turned to the freezer and pulled out a tub of dairy-free ice cream. It had a cow on the packaging, which Anna thought was a bit stupid.

Mum chose that moment to turn into the aisle. “Anna, are you bothering the locals again?”

Mr Sims looked faintly embarrassed, still holding the ice cream. “Hello, Mrs Jenkins,” he said. 

“Oh, lovely to see you Mr Sims,” said mum, sounding genuinely pleased. “I hope your new placement is working out well.”

“Yes, thank you,” said Mr Sims. He seemed almost surprised mum was being nice, which was mad because Anna’s mum was one of the nicest people she knew, even when Anna forgot to bring her washing down or tidy up her books.

While mum had Mr Sims chatting about boring adult stuff, Anna took the chance to scope out more of the ice cream options. She was hoping there’d be an offer on the really nice tubs. Sometimes mum would get them if they were on two-for-one.

There was a friendly looking man blocking the freezer Anna needed, a bag of frozen peas in each hand, so she coughed a few times just to get his attention.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, moving back a few steps. Anna glanced back at Mr Sims, who was apparently really interested in mum’s work at the hairdresser, and added another reason to the list of Why Adults Are Weird.

She slid the freezer open and shivered a bit at the blast of cold air. There _was_ an offer on the tubs, she noticed, which put her in an even better mood.

When she turned back she saw that the man who’d been in the way had moved back up the aisle and was next to Mr Sims, holding his _hand._ The hand with his _wedding ring_.

_Oh my god_ , thought Anna, because it wasn’t swearing if it was just in your head. _Martin!!_

Prachi would never believe this.

She hopped back up the aisle, switching legs again, and gave mum a quick hug before hanging herself over the side of the trolley.

“There you are, you little monkey,” said mum, fondly. “Mr Sims was just saying how horrible you are.”

Anna made an indignant noise. “I’m only horrible at _home,_ ” she protested.

“That really isn’t the argument you think it is, darling,” mum replied.

Mr Sims coughed.

“Jon is just the same,” said Martin, with a cheeky grin. “Can’t get him to do _anything_.”

“I think you’re confusing me with the cats, Martin,” said Mr Sims. 

Mum laughed at that, then checked her watch and winced.

“It was very nice seeing you Mr Sims, and your husband,” she said. “But we should probably get on before all this melts.” The trolley was a lot more full than it had been when Anna last saw it. Dad had clearly given up on trying to choose, because there were oven chips _and_ curly fries on top of the pile.

“It was nice to run into you,” said Mr Sims. He sounded like he meant it. “I’ll admit, I do miss reading your stories, Anna. They were all very… visceral.”

Martin snorted. He was just how Anna had imagined, somehow. He was a little bit taller than her dad, and he wore round-framed glasses that looked sort of cool, even though they were kind of old-fashioned. She thought he probably gave good hugs, which was good, because Mr Sims always looked a bit like he needed one.

“Thanks Mr Sims,” said Anna, preening a little. “Mrs Grant said I have a very active imagination.”

Her last story had been about a girl who travelled back in time to learn how to be a ninja. Apparently she needed to use more adverbs.

Mum said goodbye again, a little more firmly, and started pushing the trolley with Anna still attached. Undeterred, she held on a bit more tightly and hooked her toes under the suspension.

“You’re the one who keeps calling me a monkey,” she said, when it looked like mum was about to tell her off.

Dad caught up with them at the till, carrying a roll of bin bags and a big box of washing powder. “Just spotted one of Anna’s teachers by the potato waffles,” he said, unaware that this was old news. “Wonder how he’s doing.”

“You need to keep up, dad,” said Anna, unloading frozen raspberries onto the conveyor belt. “He’s all happy teaching babies at his new school. Not real babies,” she added when dad looked baffled for a second. “Just Reception ones.”

**Author's Note:**

> jon and martin are out shopping for an ex-archives team come dine with me competition. no this doesn't make sense, but unfortunately i think the voting would be very funny
> 
> i'm not... super sure how i feel about this one as outsider pov, and i tried writing it otherwise, but i missed writing anna the morbid child so i hope it suffices. curly fries are very important to her, body language and other non-verbal cues are not.
> 
> jon's full outfit: very old hoodie; what the ghost! shirt stolen from georgie which has multiple holes at the hemline; trackie bottoms from secondary which still fit because he is the scrawniest man alive; trainers he stole from daisy; odd socks (one of them has cats on it)
> 
> this is inspired at least partially by several similar experiences i've had, especially the time i met a girl i'd been teaching for three days at asda while i was wearing my school leaver's hoodie and a pair of christmas leggings, aka my pyjamas
> 
> title from the orange by wendy cope
> 
> tumblr and twitter still @dotsayers! and just to say that i really appreciate all the comments i receive, i am just VERY BAD at replying to them in a timely fashion, so if you get a reply like a month late please know i've been obsessing over it the whole time. love u all <3


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